Honor 400 Lite – Review

I have been using the Honor 400 Lite for nearly two weeks, and it is time to share my thoughts on it with you.
For starters, if you want to pick this phone up, then you can do so by heading to the Honour site and ordering it now. There is currently an offer in place where you can get some free Bluetooth headphones as well, so now is a good time to pick one up if you want one.

That being said, should you be picking this as your phone of choice for the next few years, months, days (delete as appropriate)? Well, let’s go through it and find out.

Design

I have already discussed a few of the phone’s design aspects in my unboxing post, which I encourage you to check out if you want to. If not, I have included the video below.

From the video, we can see that Honor has played it relatively safe in terms of the design and has adopted a design language that is now becoming more mainstream of the squared off edges, flat display and rounded corners. Some may even mistake the phone for being an iPhone at a glance. That is, until you were to take a closer look at the back and, in particular, the camera module, which stands out enough to give the phone some identity. I like the slight change in colour used in the triangle containing the camera lenses and flash module. It gives a focal point to the back and draws the eye in.

The other noticeable change from previous Honor-numbered series devices is the squared-off edges and the use of a flat display over the previously seen curved displays. This creates a harsh edge for the screen where it ends, but it does allow the fitting of edge-to-edge screen protectors like the included factory-fitted plastic one. While the curved edges of old were very nice aesthetically, they were annoying to use as the edges of the phone were sometimes not very useful for picking up touch points. I am glad to see that Honor has now adopted this design ethos here, and I hope they will continue to include this in the rest of the lineup. I am also pleased to say that the bezels on the edge of the phone show up some other brands to shame as they are both very small and, more importantly, uniform in size, which is really nice to see. Overall, the Display panel is very pleasing to the eye and has been a joy to use. I will go into the brightness and visual quality a bit later on. One other thing I should mention while we are here is the fact that the display has 7 different “shields’ to help protect your eyes. These are the following

• 3840Hz high-frequency PWM
• Dynamic Display Dimming
• Circadian Night Display
• Comfortable dim light adjustments
• Low blue light (hardware)
• E-book Mode
• Dark Mode

I have not used all of these, but I can say with some certainty that they do get very dark when used in a darker environment, almost to the point where they are too dark, especially for my old, ailing eyes. The options to control all of these modes are in the display settings, which makes them easy to find. However, the PWM setting cannot be adjusted, and neither can the Dynamic Display Dimming, as these are just controlled by the phone automatically.

The next bit that I want to mention is a new feature that Honor is introducing with the 400 Lite and will hopefully be seen in future versions as and when they come out (Ed note: I expect to see some more from the series later this year, based on previous years.) This is, of course, the new camera button, which I am pleased to say is actually a physical button, unlike some of the other reinterpretations of the design that have been seen. On the right-hand side, below the power/sleep, wake/lock/unlock button, is where you will find a slightly recessed long button/touch bar that will allow you to perform a few different actions.

Now, first and foremost, I do want to have a moan about the positioning. It is too high up on the phone; it needs to be closer to the bottom, as this is not where I would naturally place my finger when I am taking a photo. It is also far too easy to press this by mistake on phone calls or when trying to unlock the phone. I have done this several times while using the phone.

With that out of the way, I am pleased to say that the button works very well as it allows you to do a quick launch into the camera app from anywhere in the phone’s UI or indeed when the phone is locked. A long press will open up Google Lens, allowing you to do a quick image search. It would be nice to see that ability to customise this if you wanted to, though. When you are in the camera itself, the button will then allow you to slide your finger along its length to adjust the zoom settings. A long hold with your finger on the button will allow you to pick the focus point, and then pressing it will take the picture. You can also use a press and hold to record video. It is not quite what I have used previously on the likes of Xperias from Sony back in the day, but it is a nice thing to have. Apparently it will also work with Gloves on, but as it is currently the middle of a heat wave in the UK I have not tried this feature!

The next thing I want to mention in the design is the ruggedness and water resistance. I incorrectly stated in the above unboxing video that the phone was not IP-rated. The phone is in fact rated for IP64, which in plain English means that it is splash resistant, although Honor seems to think differently with their marketing campaign on X, as they have this image below

 

If you ask me, I wouldn’t intend to take this swimming, but I wouldn’t be afraid to use it while I was at the beach or by the pool, for example. It is also SGS rated for up to a 1.8 m drop onto hard surfaces, which again I haven’t tried, but it is nice to know that this was tested.

That about concludes the design side of things, so we will not move onto hardware. These two areas tend to merge into one quite a lot, so I will try not to repeat myself.

Hardware

Overall, the phone is very well made, and as you saw above, it shows from the testing it has undergone, but beyond that, the components being used on the inside are all good specs for the price of the device.At the very heart of the phone, we find that it is being powered by a Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Ultra, which is in turn backed up by an IMG GXM08-256 graphics chip. Now I have never heard of that specific graphics chip, but I have heard of the Dimensity CPU, and it is no longer associated with being a cheap chipset only used by budget brands. Medaitek have been making big moves within the Chinese smartphone market with both Vivo and Oppo having used it in their flagships at the end of last year on both their Chinese-focused phones and also the Global versions. 

The Dimensity 7025 is not a flagship chip, but it’s comparable to the Snapdragon 695, which is essentially a Snapdragon 6s Gen 3.  This means phones like the Samsung Galaxy A 36 and the Moto G 85 use the 695/6s Gen 3.  It was also used in the Nord CE Lite 3G, which was reviewed in 2023. I found the performance then was more than adequate.

Now, let’s talk about how the Honour 400 Lite performs day to day. I’ve been quite pleased with it. I haven’t had any issues using it as my daily driver. There was sometimes a small delay when opening bigger apps, especially for the first time, but once they cached to the fast memory, this wasn’t an issue.

The memory unit I have for review is the 8GB version with 256GB of storage, which is the only version available in the UK. I believe there’s a 12GB RAM version in other markets. RAM can sometimes be a bottleneck to performance, especially if you’re the type of user who has many apps open and tabs open. However, clearing out active apps and browsing tabs can speed things up again. I am not going to try an blow smoke up your ass and say that this is the only phone you will ever need in terms of performance but for the casual user who need as phone as a phone and wants to use for emails and social media then this will suit them perfectly from a performance standpoint. As a side note, I have given the Nord CE 3 Lite to my Son, who has never complained about the performance of that phone at all, and he uses it for more than the things I just mentioned above.

The next big internal part is, of course, the battery. Inside the sleek profile of the Honor 400 Lite we have got a 5230WH battery which can charge at 35w. This battery was able to last me through 2 full days with very light usage, and when stressed, it would get me through a full day.  To recharge the battery took me around 1 hr 37mins when plugged into a GAN 67 W charger and using the Honor Supercharger protocol. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, for this price,e we don’t have any of the fancy Silicon carbon battery tech and have to make do with the older style Li-ion Polymer Battery. I suspect this is why the charging speed is relatively low compared to the rest of the market. We are also lacking Wireless charging, but again, this is completely understandable.

So those are the two big hitters from an internal hardware perspective. What about all the other parts? Well connectivity-wise wise we are very well served with all the essentials, as it will support all the G’s from 2 up to 5 it has Wifi 2.4GHz and 5GHz up to 802.11 ac. You can use it as a Wi-fi hotspot on both of these 2.4GHz and 5 Ghz bands if you wish to. It will also support Wi-Fi Direct for file transfer, which made moving all my details from my Oppo Find N5 to the Honor 400 Lite simple and easy. For Bluetooth, we have got 5.3 onboard, which does the essentials without too much concern and this is about as up-to-date as we can expect from a budget offering. I had no issue using my Pixel Watch 3 45mm with the phone, with notifications and other actions coming through quickly every time.

As mentioned earlier, the phone will charge at up to 35W via the included charger, which will in turn be plugged into the phone via the USB Type-C 2.0 port. This will also offer reverse charging for low-powered devices like Vapes, Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches etc. It should be noted that when I plugged my Oppo Find N5 into the Honor 400 Lite it was the Honore that took the charge but when i did the same with my One Plus Pad 2 (which was at20%) that charged, the only thing i can think of is that the device with the greater battery charge will be the one offering the charge. It may be that this was a previously known and understood concept that had up until now eluded me!!!

GPS-wise, we are well catered for again with all the expected systems being supported, those being GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/Galileo. The phone will also work off network-based positioning as well as WLAN-based positioning.  Leaving the best for last, we have all sensors  that are supported, all the main culprits being here, consisting of:

• Gravity Sensor
• Fingerprint Sensor
• Compass
• Ambient Light Sensor
• Proximity Sensor (Ultrasonic approach, non-physical approach sensor)

That about concludes the hardware and design aspects, but I wanted to share some images of the phone next to another one from a similar price point, and for this, I have chosen the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G (mainly as I had one to hand, as it is my work phone).

Performance

This phone has been built to be a “Lite” version for a series of phones, and due to this, I am not expecting to be presented with a high-end gaming monster or DSLR substitute. That being said, though, most phones these days, including lower-end models such as the Honor 400 Lite, are very capable in terms of what they can do performance-wise.

My initial first impression was good, with very little perceptible lag when moving around the OS, and I was able to bring all my apps and services over from my Find N5 without too much drama. I then started to use it, and little things started to show up, the fact that this is running a lower-tier processor, to be fair, though, I am comparing this to my daily, which is running the Snapdragon Elite. I found that some bigger apps just needed that little bit more time to load up than I was used to. Dont get me wrong, the phone is by no means slow, but it is slower than a flagship in 2025, which is expected.

I was able to play games on the phone without too many issues, although my gaming choices are not exactly the most taxing things in the world. I am mainly playing Grand Mountain Adventure(a ski/snowboard sim game). I have got it set at the highest framerates and graphics settings, and it played just fine. I did notice a little bit of heat build-up from extended gaming sessions, but nothing uncomfortable. I also noticed a bit of initial lag when I started to play the game, but this disappeared as soon as I performed a restart, allowing the lag to stop. I have tried to demo this in the video clip below.

 

There is a game getting menu that can be brought up whilst playing a game, but it offers very minimal adjustments. Nothing like what can be found on gaming-focused devices like the RedMagic series.

I also tried Asphalt Legends Unite as I want to push it a bit harder with a more intense game. Even with Settign fully cranked to the max, I was able to get a very good gaming experience. and virtually no lag. Here are some screenshots from the Game

In this first one, I had 3D mode turned on, along with all the other settings being ramped up to max.

Here I have turned off 3D Settings

It makes things look a lot better.

Gaming performance is good enough for all but the most ardent of gamers, as I have indicated with the above two games, the phone is great for casual gaming, but if you desire to play intense RPG-style games or first-person shooters with full graphics and high frame rates, then you may want to look elsewhere.

Another aspect of performance is how well this works as a phone for making calls. I am pleased to report that it fulfils this task very well I was able to make a receive calls with no issues, and the other person was able to hear me clearly and concisely in all but the weakest of signal areas. It also handles my messaging needs very well with the native Google Messages preinstalled, supporting RCS messaging with no issues. WhatsApp was seamless, as can be expected.

Lastly is the performance of the loudspeaker. It is ok for volume, but there is no depth to the sound that comes from having a stereo setup. It is also far too easy to cover the speaker when watching a video or when gaming. Check out the example below.

Two more sections to cover, and we will deal with the biggy first, the Camera.

Camera

I have been able to get some pretty okay shots out of the camera setup on the Honor 400 Lite, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that they are now quite well-versed in making good camera phones. The 400 Lite uses a two-lens setup on the camera module with the larger of the two being a 108MP Camera with an aperture f/1.75. The second one is a wide-angle and Depth camera and is only 5MP with an aperture of f/2.2. The majority of the work here is being done with the main 108MP camera, which will pixel bin the images down to a more palatable 13.3MP image. These images were for the most part pretty clear and crisp  as you can see in the gallery below. 

As you can see from above, even with the light fading into dusk, these photos were all pretty good and were acceptable. I did come across one issue, and that was when I was trying to capture an image of this black cat.

The phone’s shutter speed wasn’t quick enough to capture the movement, and as a result, we have a bit of a blurry mess.

Low light performance wasn’t too shabby either, as can be seen from the night shots below.

The one on the left is with night mode off, just using the normal settings, and the one on the right is with night mode turned on. There is a significant difference, and this suggests that, unlike more higher specced devices I have tested, the phone’s AI is not being used to change the camera setting from normal to a night mode shot without you doing it yourself.  Strangely enough, this does not annoy me as I like to know when the phone is going to things in the camera and when it is not!

As for Selfies, these are not too shabby.

In the samples below, you can see both a shot with Bokeh effects and one without Bokeh.

I do like the Bokeh that is being applied as it is a very close cut around my face, and it really doesn’t impact my face too much. I also tried the selfie cam in low light and I was surprised by the results. Below is an example without the flash, and then one with the flash. Now, when I say flash, I mean that there is an LED hidden in the camera cutout next to the front Camera lens that will light up just before the camera takes its shot. I’ll be honest, I have not seen this before, so I was a bit surprised when this happened. It turns out that if it gets dark enough, then the full screen will light up as well, which is more what I was expecting to see!

Having looked at the specs again, I don’t know why I was surprised, as it is there in black and white!

As for the AI Camera Button, as Honor calls it have been pleased with how it performs, and the UI is easy to use. Sliding your finger from left to right zooms in, and vice versa. A long press will allow you to set the focus, and then finally, a hard long press will start recording video, with you having to tap again to stop recording.

The last thing I want to discuss is video. Both cameras will record video at 30 FPS in 1080p, which is par for the course on a budget phone like this. If you are stationary when recording, then the results are okay; however, bring in any motion and then things get a lot more sketchy. recorded this while gently walking down the road.

Not great to be honest, and I didn’t want to record for much longer as I didn’t want to give you all motion sickness! This is down to a lack of any form of image stabilisation in the phone. Now I am not really that surprised by this, as at the end of the day we are looking at a sub £300 phone, so some things have to be cut from the spec sheet.

Time to delve into the software

Software

The Honor 400 Lite comes with Android 15 with an Honor OS 9 skin on top of it. The Honor skin is good and has some very useful functions on it, but it also has one feature that is, in my opinion, unnecessary. As you would expect there is full suite of AI onboard which will help you do various things from editing photos you have taken to using the camera along with the AI Camera Button to quickly open Google Lens for searching with Gemini. It can also do text translation and help with homework right there within the Lens app.

Within the gallery, more AI functions are present, including your normal AI editing suite for photos and another one that I thought was quite cool called AI instant video, which can create some very easy slideshows for you.

You also have Honor Magic Portal which will allow you too easily share content from your screen to a variety of services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, X. You can also used this to add an image to the gallery or a Favourite Space. if you are lucky enough to own other Honor Devices then this can be accessed from other devices as well, assuming the correct permissions have all been set up.

You also have Honor AI Translate which is a very useful app for translating speech into other languages. I have included some screenshots of this in action below.

The software works pretty darn well, and it will be supported for six years of OS updates and six years of security updates, which is a big plus for potential buyers. Whether the phone will still be going strong by that point is uncertain, but time will tell on that one.

Now I have left it long enough time for a rant!!!!

Notifications and Control panel splitting are not needed; why must manufacturers force this change when some of us don’t want it. I have seen that this is a trend that is starting to be found across multiple manufacturers as they are all aping what Apple has done in splitting these up. I don’t mind having the option as I have on my Oppo Find N5 and previously on my OnePlus 13 etc. What i do mind is that Honor and others have now stared to force this change on us with out giving us the choice and to be blunt this pisses me right off. Stop it, if you must do this “splitting” then give the user the choice of what they want to use either split (ick) or unified (glorious). Thankyou

Now that is out of the way we need to come to a conclusion.

Conclusion

Honor looks like they have set the tone for another series with the 400 Lite, and it is for the most part, a very good base from which to build future devices, as they did with the 200 series last year. Yes there are a few compromises that have been made to get the price to where they needed it to be and these may be deal breakers but for a lot of people, they won’t. I know that if I were looking for a second phone (for work use maybe) or a phone for my family members, then this would defiantly be one on my radar.

When looking at competition then you are going to be looking at the likes of the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G (£199), OnePlus Nord 4 (£399) Samsung Galaxy A26 5G (£249). Having not had the chance to review all of these I cant say which one will be the best however the Honor 400 Lite is a good bet, if you can stretch the budget a little bit, though I would also be considering the OnePlus Nord 4 especially if it is on offer which it frequently is.

So there you have the Honor 400 Lite has been reviewed and it is a great budget banger of a phone, maybe not for the flagship chasers, but certainly good enough for the lighter user of a phone such as kids or (to coin a term from Steve Litchfield) Normobs. You can buy the Honor 400 Lite from Honor now for the sweet and tasty price of £249 and they will even include some HONOR Choice Earbuds Clip which are worth £149.99.

Cheers for your time.